President's 2009 budget plan would set health programs back. (cover story)

BUDGET; PUBLIC finance; PUBLIC health; HEALTH; BUSH, George W. (George Walker), 1946-; CENTERS for Disease Control & Prevention (U.S.); UNITED States. Health Resources & Services Administration

The article reports on the federal budget proposed by U.S. President George W. Bush for fiscal year 2009. Bush's 2009 proposal, which was released in February 2008, recommends cutting funding to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention by more than $412 million--a 7 percent cut below fiscal year 2008 funding and a return to 2003 funding levels. The Health Resources and Services Administration is also slated for considerable cuts in Bush's proposal, which calls for cutting the agency's budget by almost $1 billion, including an almost 70 percent cut to the nation's health professions training program.